The Political Trial of Ken Paxton
On September 5, 2023 the Texas Senate will begin their historic impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Let me first say that I in no way am defending anything that Ken Paxton has done or has been alleged to have done. During the 2022 primary, the Cooke County Conservatives hosted an event for and fully endorsed Louie Gohmert for the Republican nominee for Texas Attorney General. In this primary, Ken Paxton won and, in the runoff with George P. Bush, Paxton received 68% of the Republican vote. Which means, in simple terms, he won the Republican primary in a landslide.
Ken Paxton has been a thorn in the side of the establishment since he was serving in the Texas House of Representatives, where he ran for Speaker of the Texas House. AG Paxton has also been a vocal supporter of President Trump and has continuously challenged the Biden Administration on several aspects of the liberal agenda. This is one of the things that has kept him such a popular choice of Texas Republicans. However, if the Texas House of Representatives has their way, he will soon be removed from office through this impeachment process. Several Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Ken Paxton at the end of the 88th legislative session.
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. ― Mark Twain
A couple of things to point out, are that prior to 48 hours before the House impeachment, no Republican State Representative publicly mentioned impeachment. The Texas House was only given 48 hours to review thousands of pages of evidence to make a monumental and historical decision on this impeachment. In prior impeachments of this magnitude, they were given weeks, not hours, to review the evidence. So the criticism that this impeachment was rushed through is valid. Additionally, the Texas House Rules were changed for the first time in over 20 years at the beginning of the session in January of 2023 in regard to impeachment. Therefore, this is really beginning to feel like this is a ore of a plot to overturn the results of an election, not a legitimate impeachment. It appears that the left is employing a new strategy to overturn the will of the people, and unfortunately some of our Republicans are falling for this ploy.
Texas law states that you cannot be impeached for something that is happened prior to the last election and is common knowledge. Since Ken Paxton was literally just elected less than a year ago, everything that was brought up did happen prior to the last election and his opponents spent over 40 million dollars emphasizing these very allegations in political ads. The theory is that the voice of the voters is paramount. So this is looking more and more like the same sort of political persecution that we are seeing at the national level, and they don’t want the pesky opinion of the voters to be counted in this matter.
A recent article from stream.org, lays out a good case for the long term impacts of this impeachment. They point out that Paxton was one of the few that has run towards the fire and without him and those like him, Texas is doomed to turn blue. Unfortunately, if we lose Texas, there is literally nowhere else to run. As goes Texas, as goes America, so speak now or forever hold your peace.
State Senator Drew Springer will be one of those who will determine whether Ken Paxton will be impeached. Please call Senator Springer (512-463-0130) and ask him to send this impeachment back to the house and immediately reinstate Ken Paxton into the position he was overwhelmingly elected for. Tell him to stop this witch-hunt now.
